Exhibited at: Unity — Faculty & Student Exhibition, Quoz Arts Fest, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE (January 2025)
Institution: Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (DIDI)
Collaborators: Andra Clitan (Romania) with students Jeeda (Syria), Arjun (India), Fatima (Pakistan), and Yalda (Iran)
Concept
Root Rot is a collaborative installation exploring the evolving essence of home, identity, and belonging through cross-cultural design. Created with students from five different cultures, Romania, Syria, India, Pakistan, and Iran, the work reflects on permanence and impermanence, the fragility of roots, and the resilience of community.
The installation brought together biomaterials, biodegradable textiles, knitted fibers from Romania, and sand, symbolizing the delicate balance between decay and regeneration. Sand’s shifting, impermanent nature served as the foundation, while biomaterials layered above evoked the organic growth and slow decay of roots.
To honor the cultural heritage of each collaborator, traditional patterns from Pakistan, India, Iran, Romania, and Syria were laser-engraved into the biomaterials, weaving a narrative of interconnected histories. Elements such as jasmine flowers, emblematic of Kerala’s heritage and their powerful evocation of memory, were incorporated for their sensory resonance, alongside symbolic references like the swan, sacred to Sarasvati Devi, embodying the eternal versus the temporal.
The installation consisted of three sculptural textiles, inspired by organic forms found in nature and cultural rituals. These large-scale works invited viewers to move around them, engaging their senses while reflecting on how memory, tradition, and place shape belonging. By merging natural materials, engraved cultural motifs, and innovative techniques, Root Rot bridged tradition and innovation, a meditation on the fragile yet fluid nature of identity in a globalized world.